Well damn, here I was wondering if Rockstar Games would keep their promise and reveal their Grand Theft Auto V box art today, like they had said they would in January. Instead, they announce the game's release date. Who cares about stinking box art, anyways, right? Grand Theft Auto V is coming to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on September 17, 2013.

Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games, celebrated the announcement with the following statement:

"Grand Theft Auto V continues to push the series forward in new ways; Rockstar North are creating our deepest, most beautiful and most immersive world yet. We are very excited for people to learn more about the game in the coming months."

While we were hoping for a second quarter release for Grand Theft Auto V (April, May, June), a late third quarter release date is still a release date. It wouldn't be a Grand Theft Auto title unless Rockstar took as much time as necessary to put out the product they wanted to. Citing "additional development time" for the slight delay, Rockstar reminds us that this will be the largest and most dynamic open world experience made by the company yet. It'll b e worth the wait.

Update: Message posted over on the GTA website from the GTA development team:

"Dear all,

Today, we have an official release date to share with you: Grand Theft Auto V will arrive in stores on September 17, 2013.

We know this is about four months later than originally planned and we know that this short delay will come as a disappointment to many of you, but, trust us, it will be worth the extra time. GTAV is a massively ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require.

To all Grand Theft Auto fans, please accept our apologies for the delay, and our promise that the entire team here is working very hard to make the game all it can be. We are doing all we can to help ensure it will meet if not exceed your expectations come September – we thank you for your support and patience.

Dan Mumford That would be amazing, but they're still confirmed for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

They will be on PS3 and 360 regardless of any potential Next Gen and PC plans. Rockstar can't afford to take a game that's probably cost them the best part of $100 million and then sell it on consoles with no install base whatsoever. PS3 and 360 with their install base will make up any losses on a potential Next Gen port.

This delay had better mean that they want to take their time, working out all the bugs from the PC version, which they had better be planing to release on the same day as the console versions, at the latest.

Also WTF R?!! It's been like 3 years since they announced it and by september it will have been like 5. Hurry it up, or announce it later next time.

Dan Mumford That would be amazing, but they're still confirmed for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

They will be on PS3 and 360 regardless of any potential Next Gen and PC plans. Rockstar can't afford to take a game that's probably cost them the best part of $100 million and then sell it on consoles with no install base whatsoever. PS3 and 360 with their install base will make up any losses on a potential Next Gen port.

What I would assume the most likely scenario to be is that they may take advantage of the new tech in the next gen consoles, if they are out when GTA V launches, of course, but that the games will also be created for the PS3 and 360. I agree with you that there is no way in hell they are going to make a GTA game exclusive to the next gen of consoles even if they do manage to launch by September. How would they sell 20 million copies of the game if a new console generation has only sold one or two million by launch day?

I'd love to be proven wrong, but it's extremely unlikely that Rockstar would consider turning GTA5 cross-platform with next-gen systems or pushing the game back to next-gen. That's just not their style, not to mention the extra development time it would take.

They decided on 360, PS3 and they'll stick to it, for better or worse. That's just they way they develop things. If anything, the PC release may be even further delayed, because Rockstar will want to make the game they want and they'll want to get it out before the next-gen hits (November at the earliest, I believe).

This delay had better mean that they want to take their time, working out all the bugs from the PC version, which they had better be planing to release on the same day as the console versions, at the latest.

Also WTF R?!! It's been like 3 years since they announced it and by september it will have been like 5. Hurry it up, or announce it later next time.

They announced it like a year ago. Which means it'd be three by the time it comes out :/ Not as long as you're saying at all.

But either way, I wish they'd leave their release dates until they're solid with it, rather than this Spring 2013/October 2007 shit they've pulled for the last two releases. Five and a half years between games ffs.